apt-get upgrade always fails on mariadb-server due to timezone - mysql

Question

MariaDB 10.1.3, kernel 3.19.3, Debian
Problem: apt-get upgrade always fails due to mariadb-server timezone issue.
my.cnf contains
[mysqld]
default_time_zone=America/New_York
I also imported the tzinfo:
# mysql_tzinfo_to_sql /usr/share/zoneinfo | mysql -u root mysql
When I manually stop/start the service, there is no issue:
# service mysql restart
[ ok ] Stopping MariaDB database server: mysqld.
[ ok ] Starting MariaDB database server: mysqld ..
[info] Checking for corrupt, not cleanly closed and upgrade needing tables..
However, every single time I run apt-get upgrade, it always fails on mariadb-server:
# apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Setting up mariadb-server-10.1 (10.1.3+maria-1~wheezy) ...
[ ok ] Stopping MariaDB database server: mysqld.
dpkg: error processing mariadb-server-10.1 (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mariadb-server:
mariadb-server depends on mariadb-server-10.1 (= 10.1.3+maria-1~wheezy); however:
Package mariadb-server-10.1 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mariadb-server (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
mariadb-server-10.1
mariadb-server
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
The error is:
# tail /var/log/syslog
mysqld_safe[32269]: [ERROR] Fatal error: Illegal or unknown default time zone 'America/New_York'
This is happening on multiple servers and has become a real annoyance. Could use your help. BTW, it isn't the MariaDB version, as this error has persisted for a couple of years throughout several versions.
EDIT TO ADD: I forgot to mention if I remove the default_time_zone parameter from my.cnf, apt-get upgrade does work. It is only when that parameter is present that apt-get upgrade fails. It needs to be present for my configuration.
EDIT 2: To ensure clarity, even after removing default_time_zone, then doing apt-get upgrade successfully, then adding back default_time_zone and restarting -- future mariadb-* upgrades will fail via apt. There is something specific to the process during apt-get upgrades that is not consistent with a normal service start.

Answer 1

Had the same issue. This is what worked for me:
sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server
Backup /var/lib/mysql folder, as all data in will be deleted

Answer 2

Perhaps the answer is "The MySQL installation procedure creates the time zone tables in the mysql database, but does not load them. You must do so manually using the following instructions..."
See Manual page.
You may choose to file a bug report about the installation error, too.